


Time Pack

by Tracey_Claybon



Series: Time Pack [1]
Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Cats, Gen, Kittens, kitten!fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 14:50:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5460377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tracey_Claybon/pseuds/Tracey_Claybon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The TARDIS has decided to teach the Doctor a lesson about the joys of friendship. Set around the time of Journey's End, 10th Doctor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time Pack

Hanako and Ramble meet the Doctor 

 

A strange hoarse, roaring noise echoed through an autumn London night. A blue police box appeared, standing tall in a random alley in the London fog late that night. After a moment, the door creaked and a tall man wearing a blue pinstriped suit and red Chuck Taylor Converse sandshoes with tall, spiky brown hair departed the police box, holding a short silvery metal stick that glowed blue at the end. He walked briskly away, intent on investigation of some distant errand. The door, slightly ajar, showed more than just the inside of a simple anachronistic police box, and usually the door would eventually close or shut on its own after a moment or two - almost as if the police box had a mind of its own.

But - not tonight.

Tonight, the TARDIS was calling and catching "strays" of a strain she had brought to her Thief before over many of his lives. These were much shorter in lifespan than the mostly human "pets" Thief brought in and kept for long periods. And the TARDIS considered them as much HERS as she considered the Thief hers - she had lived a long time prior to acquiring her Thief and understood something her silly Thief had yet to figure out - friendship and love are to be treasured and loved for the time gifted to have them around; the TARDIS, like her Thief (also known as the Doctor) occasionally had pets too... and she shared with the Doctor to give him perspective.

Tonight, the TARDIS attracted a couple of new friends that were barely weanlings...

::WARMTH FOOD Mother... play with siblings... sleep...::  
::pounce on malesib friend and wash him...::

Two small balls of fur came tearing into the hidden alleyway just in front of the police box. About five to six Earth weeks old, one kitten is all huge green-gold eyes and longish fur in black and orange with a white belly and four white mittens; the other kitten she is on top of and holding down to wash with a paw has shorter black and white fur, huge grass green eyes, also with a white belly with a freckling of spots and two mittens and two socks, white to match his sister's ...  
::run mockfight... light interesting...chase with malesib... chase malesib into glowy space...::  
The TARDIS Doors close, trapping the youngsters inside.  
CLICK.  
::Out?! Can't go back out?!::  
::Lost...?! Out?!::  
:Lost?! No familiar scents except malesib... Want Mother... Out?!::  
Faint little cries and meows of distress could be heard proceeding down the halls and then from the corridors of the TARDIS near a door to a suite of rooms and a small library where a discarded coat had been left on a comfortable overstuffed chair.

::Out?! OUT...? ...scared... Malesib near, scared too...... sleepy, malesib cuddle near... softwarm strangescent thing soft to sleep near/on... malesib familiar, near.... sleep?!

###

About two hours later, the Doctor returns from his investigations and takes off from the London alley, none the wiser that he has a couple of additional guests in the TARDIS this time.

###

The kittens awake, realize their mother is nowhere near and they are hungry... the TARDIS materializes a bowl of kitten food, water and a cat box for the youngsters, who are hungry, but together; they vaguely remember their mother but are soothed back to sleep after a good meal and their basic needs are cared for...

The TARDIS cares for her new little friends for a few weeks with the Doctor none the wiser - until the day she decides to let her Thief know that he has new friends aboard. 

The Doctor is walking through the corridors of the TARDIS one day, companion free for once. He had misplaced a book "Teas of the 256th Century of New Earth" that he had been meaning to relax and catch up with in one of the more distant library rooms his fifth incarnation had had that wasn't destroyed during the Time War. He had remembered where it was again and just gotten the door open when a tiny orange, black and white furry blur, followed closely by a equally tiny black and white blur, came out the door he opened. One blur each untied the shoelaces of one of his chucks and dashed off, roughly the same direction - the little furry blurs were chasing a pair of laser dots and each other down the newly remembered corridor.

Of course, all thought of reading "Teas of the 256th Century of New Earth" were gone in an instant...

"Wait... What...? WHAT?! Oi!"

The Doctor, perplexed, startled, then followed after the kittens. As his long legs ate up the distances between himself and the tumbling kittens, he found himself chuckling at their antics. It was clear they were weanlings at best, not much more than seven or eight earth weeks old. As he got closer to the corner that the TARDIS brought them to, he reached down and picked up the orange, black and white youngster - and got a bit of a surprise...

::ALARM SURPRISE Put Down?! Put Down!::

The Doctor realized that he could hear the kitten he'd picked up speaking telepathically. He remembered a couple of races of telepathic cats that he had encountered and he also remembered that he had encountered a "family" of telepathic cats (and dogs, from time to time) that had settled on Earth around the 1960s - some descendants made their way onto the TARDIS during his previous incarnations. He sighed a bit, then raised the frantically meowing little one to his level more, supporting her back paws properly for a kitten as he did...  
::!!!!!! .... ?!?!.... ?....:: Then, as the Doctor cradled the little one properly, the biggest purr came out of the little kitten he now held - it seemed like the purr of a much bigger cat for the size of the youngster it was proceeding from... the black and white kitten he left on the floor of the TARDIS was now approaching and cautiously sniffing at his shoes. 

The little female (coloring and her mind feel made that plain quickly) began projecting again. ::scentsafe scent same as softwarm thing soft to sleep near/on:: - the Doctor got a flash of one of his previous incarnation's coats - might have been from his seventh or eighth life? - in one of the overstuffed chairs in the lost library that the kittens had been sleeping in. The TARDIS showed him where the kittens had been and that they had had food and other basic needs taken care of - and that she wanted him to interact with the little ones.

The Doctor looked up and said, "What do you want me to do THAT for? Donna's gone for good, now, Rose and Martha are gone - and these two will be gone in the blink of my eye! Why do you want me getting attached to the truly short lived creatures when they..... all just leave..."  
The Doctor looked incredibly old and sad for just a moment before the TARDIS nudged him mentally and said as clearly as she could, ::Because you need something to love you and for YOU to love without condition, Thief. And you need to take that kind of friendship however you find it, for a long or short time.::

The Doctor, once he recovered from the shock, found himself stroking the little female he'd picked up. The little black and white youngster, who he could sense more dimly and felt male, had nestled up to his right Chuck and looked like he was thinking of napping. He let the little female climb onto his right shoulder; she immediately climbed close to his right side sideburn, gently put a paw against it and started grooming the Doctor while purring for England. The Doctor found himself laughing in a way he hadn't felt like since long before he'd had to erase Donna's memories and Canary Wharf.

"Well, little one, what shall I call you? Arkytior, though beautiful, is a huge name for such a little one as you. Though, you do seem to bring sunshine into your wake as Rose did - I think I'll name you in her - and Susan's honor."  
The Doctor smiled.  
"I know - I'll call you Hanako. *Blossom* in Earth Japanese. How do you like that name, Hana?  
Her purring could be heard almost to the console room.  
"And considering how your brother was playing with you - I believe I will call him Ramble..."

The Doctor shook his head. "Taking on strays again..." He secured Hanako more securely then reached down to catch up her brother as securely and made his way back toward his control room. "What am I to do with the two of you..." The twin purrs and gentle muttering of the Doctor faded as he returned to the Console Room of the TARDIS.

And a general feeling of humor and contentment was palpable in the air - the TARDIS was pleased. Her Thief was starting to understand.  
-finis-

**Author's Note:**

> This is a completely non-romantic, fluffy and (hopefully) cute tribute to a set of unrelated pictures of various actors who have played the Doctor interacting with cats. I imagine that the Doctor would have interacted with other non human groups other than we humans, and this is my answer to the question: "What other companions might the Doctor have when we don't see him on TV?
> 
> This story has been bouncing through my head for quite some time. The original and first story for this was inspired by a set of pictures circling around Tumblr of David Tennant with the most adorable calico kitten from the episode Gridlock... The picture that spawned this first story for me was the one when the little one is perched on his shoulder, looking around her like the small lioness queen she is.
> 
> This is also inspired by a movie called "The Cat from Outer Space." Yes, I know - it's Disney... but I couldn't pass on the idea of a telepathic cat... after all, why should the Doctor not get owned by a cute furkid of the canine or feline persuasion like so many of us fans?
> 
> It was also inspired by the incredible work of Neil Gaiman (DW episode "The Doctor's Wife", the Vertigo comic series The Sandman, the book American Gods, the movie Coraline... there is a phenomenal list.) and finally by the furkids I've been lucky enough to share my life with. 
> 
> One of my own furkids in particular won me over this way - and I will miss her so very much. 
> 
> Hanako's quirks are based on Emily, my grey girl. Ramble is a younger version of my Cliffhanger, also not alive now — this way I remember them as rambling kittens and on the Tardis, time never stops.
> 
> They will be in no particular order or frequency.
> 
> This is NOT meant to be serious, and the "dangers" mostly won't be dangerous... Even the Doctor deserves a break sometimes.
> 
> Disclaimer: The original idea for the Time Cats and the Time Pack along with the concepts mentioned come from a classic Disney movie and novelization by Ted Key called "The Cat from Outer Space."
> 
> The Doctor, The TARDIS, any mentioned known companions and monsters are the property of the BBC. Any other fandoms and related characters mentioned belong to the owners and companies they came from. If you recognize it — it belongs to the creator of the concept.
> 
> I only lay claim to my Time Cats, Dogs, and Pack - especially Hana, Ramble and their predecessors and descendants and the characters you don't recognize. And I claim them as far as ANY cat allows you to... (Usually in a cat (or pet-occupied) house the person paying the bills is NOT the owner of the house... ::smiles:: ) 
> 
> No romance here, all fluff. This is meant to be my version of giving the Doctor a vacation from the angst he usually goes through.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the story.
> 
>  
> 
> ::words:: - telepathy  
> CAPS - emotions shown in a non-human.
> 
>  
> 
> There will be more of these to follow - and not just with the Doctor. I have some crossovers planned as well, this will be also both classic and New Who, and they will be posted as I have time to do them.
> 
> This is my celebration of the furkids who own our hearts and the household - canine and feline. There are more coming - eventually.


End file.
